ArcaMax

Dear Annie: I have read your responses to letters about barking dogs and neighborhood noise, and I appreciate the calm, compassionate way you approach these conflicts. You encourage people to start with empathy, assume good intentions and try to work things out neighbor to neighbor. That sounded wise to us, so we followed that advice exactly. ...Read more

One of my pet peeves is getting a voicemail from someone who just simply asks me to call them back. No topic. No indication if it's urgent, or important, or worst case, urgent and important. Usually, this makes it drop down on my list of priorities, unless curiosity gets the best of me and I do have some time.

I've been debating effective forms...Read more

Dear Annie: My sister-in-law, "Kay," was once one of my closest friends. For more than 25 years, we were there for each other through everything: marriages, divorce, raising children, heartbreak and all the ordinary ups and downs of life. We never had a serious fight, and I truly believed we would always be family in every sense of the word.

...Read more

Dear Annie: My husband has three children from his first marriage. For the first 20 years of us being married, everything was great. But the last 15 years have been hell with two of the children. They became super religious and political to the point they are always pushing their way of life on us.

We told them to stop, that we have our own ...Read more

Dear Annie: My brother-in-law is constantly making offensive and over-the-top jokes. Whenever I call him out, he tells me I'm "too sensitive."

To me, that's the same as saying, "I don't care about your feelings and I'm going to blame this conflict entirely on you!" I always point this out, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

This is ...Read more

Dear Annie: I live in a 55-plus community and have met many people and made lots of friends since moving in here. I am not a prude, but I find it very disturbing how the F-bomb and swearing is so prevalent in this community. I'm in my 60s, a baby boomer, a Christian and not a sheltered person, but I'm extremely annoyed by this behavior, ...Read more

Now that you've assembled a group of medical experts, I'm going to suggest you find the need to use them as seldom as possible -- which is my way of saying you should feed yourself well. Here's how:

--Give your mealtimes importance by thinking about their goodness. While you're eating, consciously appreciate the food's taste, the love you've ...Read more

Dear Annie: From the outside, my life looks steady and full. I have a thoughtful husband, grown children who stay in close touch, dear friends and work that gives my days purpose. I know I am fortunate, which only makes it harder to admit how much I am struggling in private.

For years, I have carried pain from things that happened to me when ...Read more

Dear Annie: My wife and her sister have always had a close but delicate relationship. They can talk for hours, laugh about old family stories and check in on each other several times a week. But every so often, something shifts, and my sister-in-law becomes sharp, angry and deeply hurtful toward my wife. The source of it almost always goes ...Read more

Dear Annie: About six months ago, I grew close to a woman I had known casually for some time. She had recently come out of a painful breakup, and what began as friendship quickly turned into something much more emotionally intimate. We talked every day, shared deeply personal things and became part of each other's routine in a way that felt ...Read more

I don't travel to become someone new. If anything, travel makes it clear to how many versions of myself were already there.

There is the practical version of me, the one who moves through airports with a kind of quiet competence. The one who makes the flight, finds the hotel, knows when to speak and when to listen. And then there are the other ...Read more